* Graphic: World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
* Indonesia central bank announces rate decision later
* S. Korea shares drop as virus cases climb
* Singtel reports data breach, shares drop
By Anushka Trivedi
Feb 18 (Reuters) - Indonesia's rupiah was little changed
while shares rose on Thursday ahead of the country's central
bank meeting where chances of an interest rate cut seemed to dim
after rising U.S. yields this week dented the currency.
Indonesia bonds were sold off heavily on Wednesday and the
rupiah slipped, prompting several analysts to scale back bets of
a 25 basis point interest rate cut as the central bank has
prioritised currency stability in the past. The rupiah IDR= was steady at 14,010 per dollar after
easing 0.6% in the previous session. Stocks .JKSE jumped 0.9%,
after falling the previous day as U.S. benchmark Treasury yields
US10YT=RR hit a one-year high.
"The necessary condition has always been that there
shouldn't be much turmoil in markets, hence, the probability of
the cut does go down because of what has been happening," said
Arup Raha, head of ASEAN Economics at BNP Paribas.
"However, our official call is that there will be monetary
accommodation from Bank Indonesia (BI) over the course of 2021
and this may be one of those meetings where they will cut."
BI should continue to provide a backstop for the purchase of
government bonds, he added, stressing on the need for monetary
policy to work in tandem with government's fiscal support.
Indonesia financed its 2020 fiscal deficit and COVID-19
stimulus by raising debt, a good portion of which was bought by
the central bank.
Other currencies in the region found some support in the
dollar's =USD mild losses in Asian trade. The Malaysian
ringgit MYR=MY , Singapore dollar SGD= and the Philippine
peso PHP= all rose around 0.1%.
South Korea stocks .KS11 slid 1.2% to a one-week low as
daily coronavirus cases rose by another 621, unchanged from a
day earlier when it marked the highest level in 39 days.
China shares .SSEC rallied up to 2% while the yuan
CNY=CFXS ticked up on resuming trade after a week-long Lunar
New year holiday.
Singapore Telecommunications STEL.SI slumped 3% to weigh
on the Straits Times Index .STI after the telco reported a
privacy breach, which led to data of some consumers being
stolen. ** Philippine .PSI and Malaysia shares .KLSE fell 1.1%
and 0.2%, respectively
** JGS Summit JGS.PS and Aboitiz Equity AEV.PS are top
losers on the Philippine index
** Top gainers on the Jakarta index: PT Mahaka Radio Integra
Tbk MARI.JK , up 27% and PT Nusantara Inti Corpora Tbk
UNIT.JK , up 25%
Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0423 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY % FX YTD % INDEX STOCKS DAILY % STOCKS YTD %
Japan JPY= +0.01 -2.46 .N225 -0.16 10.20
China CNY=CFXS +0.10 +1.20 .SSEC 0.39 5.65
India INR=IN +0.00 +0.45 .NSEI 0.09 8.88
Indonesia IDR= +0.00 +0.21 .JKSE 0.44 4.62
Malaysia MYR= +0.02 -0.40 .KLSE -0.19 -2.15
Philippines PHP= -0.03 -0.82 .PSI -1.33 -3.73
S.Korea KRW=KFTC +0.20 -1.73 .KS11 -1.13 7.83
Singapore SGD= +0.02 -0.55 .STI -0.41 2.27
Taiwan TWD=TP +1.69 +2.06 .TWII 0.40 11.50
Thailand THB=TH -0.10 -0.17 .SETI -0.02 4.50